One simple way to improve your listening comprehension

Buondì.

As regular readers will know, each weekday morning I drive Roomie across town and hand her over to professional wranglers for the day, then drive back home alone, listening to the news highlights in Swedish as I go.

Why am I learning Swedish? Years back I suggested to club members in an article like this one, that I was thinking of learning a new language, so as to have a better insight into language learning processes (so something to write about).

I invited them to vote regarding which language I should learn – the options, as I recall, were French, Spanish, Turkish, and Swedish, my mother-in-law’s native tongue. So they did, and of course choose the latter, just to wind me up.

I hadn’t expected learning Swedish to be more than a passing phase, one life experience out of many, but as wiser club members will know, the real progress with a language only comes when it seeps into your day-to-day life, when it becomes NOT just a transient thing, but a part of you.

Mostly that doesn’t happen, which is why so few people in anglophone countries like the UK, the USA, Australia and so on, speak a second language to a reasonable level. Unless they are, for instance, migrants so have another language or languages in the family already.

But make the right learning choices early on (delete Duolingo from your smartphone and prioritise reading, listening and speaking) and, IF you can establish good habits – such as listening to the radio in the language you’re learning on your commute – then you’re in with a chance of breaking the mould and progressing towards some sort of mastery of the language.

What’s ‘mastery’?

A topic for another day, that’s what. But suffice it to say, it’s not synonymous with ‘perfect’.

After years of practice, perhaps a thousand hours by now, my Swedish listening comprehension is much better than most Swedes would expect it to be – meaning I can listen in to conversations that aren’t meant for me… But of course, I’m far, far from understanding ‘everything’.

No one EVER understands ‘everything’, and before you write to tell me that you totally do, just reflect on the various reasons for that statement – you might walk in in the middle of a conversation, so miss the critical introduction; the conversation or podcast might be about something about which you know zilch – sailing, knitting, central bankers; there might be background noise, as in a disco; you might be otherwise distracted – there’s a small animal howling in the seat behind you and the traffic is murderous.

Or all of those things. No one ever understands ‘everything’, but much of the time in our mother tongues we understand so much of what we hear that the fraction that we don’t get can be guessed at or ignored.

How to approach that desirable ‘level’ of listening comprehension competence in Swedish, Italian, or whatever language you’re working on?

I’ve already told you – thousands of hours of exposure – though that’s not what most people want to hear.

Put the time in (virtually no one does) and the results WILL come.

There is, however, one simple thing you can do right away to up your listening comprehension performance…

Go to bed early.

No really! Given that I’ve had hundreds of mornings in the car listening to the very same 30-minute radio show of Swedish news highlights, always on my own, always with the same smartphone, the same volume setting, and the same murderous traffic, I can assure you that the most significant variable in my understanding, or lack of it, is how exhausted I feel.

If Roomie has slept peacefully, if my head hit the pillow at a reasonable hour, and stayed there for eight or nine of them, and if the evening before only involved moderate quantities of beer, wine and whisky, then the result is noticeably better!

What might, on other days, be not much more than a flow of Scandinavian-accented noise becomes something that I can follow, mostly. Sometimes without really noticing it’s not English.

It’s very satisfying, and having a clear head really helps. Shame I often don’t, but anyway.

Another evident effect, and heavy drinkers may like this one better, comes after taking a break for a few days, or even a few weeks (don’t leave it too long.)

I often notice this when I’m coming back to a language, say after the holidays when I’m at home and get no time to myself. It seems easier, clearer, the precise opposite of what I expected my neglect to result in.

I’ve heard jugglers say the same thing – stop practising for a few days, then when you restart, you’ll drop the balls less often, at least at first.

It’s as if, during the break, all the various pieces had a chance to bed down into something more resembling a whole.

Così.

Get into the habit of listening to (and ideally also reading) the language you’re learning. Do it at the same time, in the same place, and in the same way each day. Then try investing in an early night, and see if you notice the difference. And take a day off occasionally.

You read it here first.

A venerdì!

P.S.

Another simple way to improve your listening comprehension: don’t forget to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news.

P.P.S. 4 Half-Price eBook Easy Readers from 2020

Also don’t forget, this week’s half-price ebook offer on four titles we published back in 2020, each of which costs just £3.99 until Sunday 5th March 2023.

The four ‘easy Italian reader’ ebooks, in level order, from moderately easy to really rather hard (read the reviews, look at the free sample chapters…), are…

Zio Ciro e la pizza (B1)

Against her conservative father’s wishes, a nineteen-year-old Italian-American, buys a plane ticket to Napoli, in Italy. The plan is to discover the city her family originated from, and to get to know zio Ciro, the black sheep of the family!

Join Angela as she helps her Neapolitan uncle prepare pizzas for a special lunch, while learning the fascinating history of Napoli’s most famous dish!

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at any level
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Buy Zio Ciro e la pizza just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog

Dante, un’altra marachella (B1/2)

Dante, the black and white feline protagonist of ‘Dante, gatto vagante‘ is once more out and about, roaming the sestiere of Venice where he lives, his earlier misadventures having faded from memory. These days he always finds his way home, safe and sound, to the loving Anna and a delicious bowl of crunchy ‘croccantini’. So why would today be any different?

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at any level
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Buy Dante, un’altra marachella just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog

Chi è per me Cecilia (C1/2)

“Grandioso! Licenziato dopo due mesi… E adesso che faccio?!” pensai. Il primo impulso era stato quello di prendere il cellulare. Avevo scorso la rubrica fino alla lettera “C”, poi mi ero fermato a fissare lo schermo. Infine avevo sospirato e lo avevo riposto in tasca. Preso dallo sconforto, mi guardai intorno e chiesi, questa volta ad alta voce: “Che diamine posso fare?”

Milanese twenty-something Matteo loses his first real job after just a few months, and despairs he’ll ever find another. His parents don’t understand how bad his prospects seem, and he hasn’t spoken to his best friend, Cecilia, for several months. Should he call her? But can true friendship between a man and a woman really exist?

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/Italian glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at advanced level
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Buy Chi è per me Cecilia just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog

La carriera – dietro le quinte del Palio di Siena (C2)

“E mancano solo quattro giorni al Palio, la corsa di cavalli più famosa d’Italia!” sebbene la radio gracchiasse, si distinguevano piuttosto chiaramente le parole dell’esaltato commentatore: “Siena freme e si dipinge dei colori delle contrade, agghindate per la festa. Come ben sapete, cari ascoltatori, tra le dieci contrade che gareggiano vi sono alleanze e rivalità secolari. Per ogni contrada è stato già estratto a sorte un cavallo. I migliori di quest’anno sono il giovane Trifoglio, che è al suo secondo palio e corre per la contrada dell’Istrice, e la veterana Caruccia che vestirà i colori della Lupa. La Lupa e l’Istrice sono due storiche rivali, che fatalità, signori! Se ne vedranno delle belle!”

Follow Il Guercio, the diminutive one-eyed Sardinian jockey, as he’s hired to ride one of the year’s best horses, bareback, in Italy’s most famous urban race, the Siena Palio!

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level (no English!)
• Suitable for students at upper-intermediate/advanced levels
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Buy La carriera – dietro le quinte del Palio di Siena just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Read reviews! | Catalog

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